Brendan Fraser Does It For the Girls and the Gays in The Mummy (1999), or How Queer TikTok Adopted an Icon

Hello, reader. Jeremy here yet again, just hanging out in an italicized header, editing someone else’s work. This is the final week of Mummy Month, and I saved one of my dearest comrades for last: Whitney Sides Mitchell, who writes about things like healthcare and people for Alabama Arise, which means her job is actually important and she is good at it. Whit has always been one of my most generous friends, so I repaid her years of kindness by coercing her to write about The Mummy for free. She returned the favor by roasting me in the footnotes. Enjoy!

A few years back, I came out to my friends as a bisexual* (or queer) woman. It was the least surprising thing I could “announce” about myself, except maybe that I have blue eyes and breathe air regularly. 

This was not a surprise to my TikTok algorithm either. The acknowledgment the app provided in terms of serving up “bi content” was a welcome distraction. It was a two-way street. I interacted with content from LGBTQ creators and the algorithm kept serving it up. I really found following queer communities online comforting in the early days of living “out,” and I learned that millions of others did too.

And that’s when The Mummy just sort of appeared. Another unexpected niche fandom made itself known—I had to admit I was curious. It was so mainstream. The movie with Billy Zane? Why were folks so crazy about it?

I watched The Mummy as a kid and didn’t think much of it. But fans of the Mummy really put the work in when it comes to showing their dedication. And most, if not all, of the ones I was seeing involved scenes of Brendan Fraser shirtless or Rachel Weisz fighting a divinely unclothed Patricia Velasquez. The music was deep and lush, like a creepy Aronofsky soundtrack. These kids were really out here making these intensive short videos with better production value than I’ve seen in studio feature films!

All of this piqued my interest in a movie I’d mostly forgotten about. Who were these characters in their gender-neutral Saharan gear? With their suspenders and aviatrix vibes?

I found out I wasn’t alone. Soon, TikTokers began creating Vox-style explainer videos about how The Mummy was their catalyst to learning more about their sexuality. It shaped when and where they felt they’d landed on the LGBTQIA spectrum. Academically, it was so interesting to watch. Selfishly, I felt like a proud mom for all these gay little kids from across the world building a community around a 20-year-old movie! (According to Yahoo, TikToks devoted to Brendan alone have amassed over 166 million views!)

To be fair, Brendan’s turn as Rick couldn’t have been designed more perfectly as a thirst trap.** But part of the curiosity was understandably morbid, especially among aging Millennials. (I am 36 years old!) His presence was ubiquitous throughout the 90s and early aughts, but his disappearance was sort of an unexplained mystery. Why did he fade so suddenly from the limelight only to return into the Gen Z zeitgeist?

As you may have learned from Audi’s piece earlier this month, Fraser revealed that after his last leading role (The Mummy Returns), he was sexually assaulted by the head of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. This trauma eventually led to depression, anxiety, and an agoraphobic lifestyle for one of Hollywood’s most famous leading men. He was essentially blacklisted.

Which explains why the last time I had thought about Fraser organically before 2020 was standing in a supermarket line, staring at a tabloid cover. An inset image featured an unflattering paparazzi shot of Brendan looking heavier and more miserable than I’d ever seen him.

As it turns out, Brendan was really a pioneer. He spoke out about his experience before the #MeToo movement had gained traction. And he was forced out of favor and lost his livelihood for it—a familiar experience for so many female victims of sexual assault.

Thank God we’ve come this far. Thank God there is room for Brendan Fraser in his present form in popular culture. As Georgie said in her piece last week, his career outlook is super bright, and I’m 100% on board with Fraser’s cultural reappraisal. I love the sound of that.

But I would be remiss if I didn’t throw one up for Evie, played by the peerless Rachel Weisz. For a straight woman, she sure has led many a queer woman to water. (I mean, have you seen Disobedience?) And The Mummy was one of her breakout roles. The costuming was immaculate. A doe-eyed Beryl Markham type takes on the world! Humongous Bi Energy!

Outside of the thirst, Evie is an inherently interesting and strong character. Her struggles to climb the ladder in her chosen field, her ability to remain conscientious in times of peril, and her pragmatic costume make her a role model for all women.*** A real heroine with moxy—written by men with women in mind. And that was the best we were gonna get from a blockbuster in 1999.

I have to admit: I haven’t seen the two sequels. I really look forward to watching them soon. And then I’ll write about them! And you’ll be forced to read it!**** And then it’ll be a whole deal! That sounds fun.

Okay, but seriously. It’s so wild to me that The Mummy and its cast of beautiful humans has a two-decade track record of helping folks arrive at their own conclusions. And folks like me would’ve never even known if it weren’t for a stupid children’s app.*****

*I’ve been married for over a decade to my husband and we have a beautiful young daughter, so that part of my identity is often assumed to be dormant. It’s not. My husband is a dude. I like dudes and girls. Case closed.

**The only other on-screen appearances that have had that affect on me were Elizabeth Taylor in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, with an honorable mention to Paul Newman too. Or Kip Pardue in like…every movie. (Real ones know!)

***I will never miss an opportunity to encourage people to familiarize themselves wit the incomparable Dr. Sarah Parcak. She teaches at UAB, and she’s an archaeologist and Egyptologist who uncovers pyramids and hidden cities from ancient empires using satellite technology from space. Incredible! I feel like she either loves The Mummy or hates it because of the colonialist tropes.

****Jeremy here. You will not be forced to read that. This is a law-abiding newsletter.

*****There might not be anything on earth that Jeremy teases me more about than TikTok. How I am too old for it. How it’s dumb. How it’s rotting my brain. All the while never allowing himself to experience it. It’s hard to hate from outside the club, Jerm!

The Mummy is now streaming on HBO Max, and it’s available to rent elsewhere.